The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for irrigating wounds and for performing gastric lavage, and more specifically to a connector for use in wound and lavage irrigation that eliminates most of the parts and steps needed by the prior art.
A number of methods are used to irrigate wounds and to perform gastric lavage in a hospital setting. The most common method for wound irrigation, which is a key part of wound treatment and preventing infection, is to pour sterile irrigation fluid, generally a saline solution, into a sterile bowl, draw the fluid up aseptically a number of times into a sterile syringe, aseptically attach a sterile 18 or 20 gauge intravenous ("IV") catheter and then squirt the fluid into the wound under pressure to wash away gross contamination and to reduce the number of bacteria in the wound area. The IV catheter, a short plastic tube which typically surrounds an IV needle and remains in place as the opening into a vein after the IV needle is removed, fits over the end of a syringe the same as a needle, but provides a blunt plastic opening which is safer for irrigation than a sharp needle. This method requires sterile prepackaged irrigation fluid or saline, a sterile prepackaged bowl, a sterile prepackaged syringe, a sterile prepackaged IV catheter and a number of repetitive steps. The process is both time-consuming and costly. Not only is there the cost of all the sterile components (which includes the labor and time for sterilizing and packaging the components), but also the cost for the time required to repeatedly (depending on the size of the wound) draw up and squirt 20-50 cc's of sterile irrigation fluid. Most irrigations require several 20-50 cc incremental irrigations.
The most common method for gastric lavage, commonly called stomach pumping, requires a nasogastric tube (a long, flexible, sterile plastic tube), a supply of irrigation fluid and an irrigation syringe. The nasogastric tube is passed through the nares, or nostril passages, and swallowed into the stomach. The other end of the tube is temporarily taped in place under the nose and irrigation fluid pushed with the irrigation syringe through one of the tube passageways and into the stomach. The fluid is next removed by attaching the same tube passageway to suction and the removed fluid evaluated for diagnostic purposes. If deleterious material is found, such as blood or overdose pill fragments, the process can be repeated until as much of the deleterious material as possible is removed.
One alternative to the conventional manual method for wound irrigation is to use an IRRIJET brand wound irrigation apparatus, a self-filling, continuous syringe-based irrigation apparatus attached to a reservoir bag of sterile saline and intended for use with multiple patients. Although this apparatus was initially enthusiastically embraced in emergency departments, over time the combination of high cost and the time required for nursing staff to set up the apparatus has often resulted in a return to older manual methods, even in emergency rooms with access to an IRRIJET brand apparatus.
Another alternative to the conventional manual method for wound irrigation is to use a DEY-WASH brand wound irrigation apparatus, a single-use, pressurized, disposable canister of aseptically packaged sterile saline. Pressurized canisters introduce an environmental disposal problem. Each DEY-WASH brand canister is fairly expensive and contains only about 250 cc of saline solution, about enough to irrigate a single one inch laceration.
A further alternative to the conventional manual method for wound irrigation is to attach a sterile IV catheter to one end of a sterile IV tube, attach the other end of the IV tube to a sterile IV fluid bag, then either gravity flow the IV fluid through the tube into the wound or place a blood pressure cuff, or the like, around the IV bag and intermittently blow up the blood pressure cuff to generate a pressure head at the end of the catheter to irrigate the wound. This method requires considerable sterile equipment, is time consuming and labor intensive and, due to flow resistance from its length and the relative narrowness of its opening, the IV tubing creates a pressure loss that makes it difficult to generate a pressure head at the end of the tubing adequate to irrigate a wound. The literature suggests a 7-8 psig irrigation pressure is needed to adequately irrigate a deep, contaminated wound. It is difficult to attain this pressure with IV tubing.
Unfortunately, despite these and other prior art attempts to improve on the manual method for wound irrigation, none of them has been sufficiently successful to replace the manual method, with all its costs and delays, as the method of choice in most hospital settings. The same is true for prior art attempts to improve on methods for pushing irrigation fluid through a nasogastric tube. The primary problem of prior art solutions is that in attempting to improve on and simplify conventional methods, they add their own unwelcome complexity.
Thus it is seen that there is still a need for apparatus and methods for simplifying conventional wound and lavage irrigation procedures.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a connector for use in wound and lavage irrigation that eliminates many of the parts and steps needed by the prior art.
It is a feature of the present invention that it not only uses fewer parts, and is less expensive, than the prior art, but also reduces the amount of time necessary to set up and perform wound and lavage irrigation.
It is another feature of the present invention that it is particularly easy to use, its use being intuitive.
It is a further feature of the present invention that it makes it easy to vary an irrigation stream between light or forceful and between thin or wide.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it makes a more compact irrigation apparatus than prior art manual methods.
It is another advantage of the present invention that it is particularly suited for use away from hospitals, such as at battlefields and in the wilderness.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.